If you buy the notion that Robinson’s integration of the national pastime was the first big wedge in the door to real societal change — the way that black entertainers were not — then you ought to buy the notion that breaking that barrier for gay athletes today can do the same.

David Steele’s column in today’s Baltimore Sun is well worth reading. While welcoming the steady stream of gay former athletes coming out in recent years, he notes one problem. As long as all of these gay athletes are former athletes, attitudes won’t change.

Sure, he says, it’ll be extremely rough for that gay athlete who finally does come out while still playing on a major league team. Just as it wasn’t easy for the first major league black athlete:

Robinson became an American hero, an iconic figure to every race, and his number is retired on every team in major league baseball. He also lived only 16 years past retirement, dying at 53. The stress ruined his health. The fairy-tale version of this story doesn’t usually mention that part.

Imagine, though, if Robinson had simply returned to the Negro Leagues, and after his retirement, he’d written a book about how hard it was on him and others to have never played in the majors.

It would have been very enlightening. Others might have later written similar books: Willie Mays, Jim Brown, Michael Jordan. And we might still have separate leagues, schools and water fountains today.

That’s what’s going on now with gay athletes.

I don’t want to diminish the step that John Amaichi has take by coming out. I really don’t. It’s important for everyone to come out, and everyone has a right to do so at their own time and manner. And besdies that, John Amaichi will be a great role model for LGBT youth. Nor do I want to diminish Esera Tuaolo’s, Roy Simmons’, Billy Bean’s, or Dave Kopay’s stories either. They, too, are very important and must be told.

But as we continue to look to the civil rights movement for inspiration in our efforts for acceptance, we ought to consider the very real personal risk and sacrifice that are exemplified by the towering heros of that movement. They didn’t wait until things got easier. If they had, they’d still be waiting today.

As David Steele says, this is all easy for me to say. And yet, it’s hard to argue otherwise.

In this original BTB Investigation, we unveil the tragic story of Kirk Murphy, a four-year-old boy who was treated for “cross-gender disturbance” in 1970 by a young grad student by the name of George Rekers. This story is a stark reminder that there are severe and damaging consequences when therapists try to ensure that boys will be boys.

When we first reported on three American anti-gay activists traveling to Kampala for a three-day conference, we had no idea that it would be the first report of a long string of events leading to a proposal to institute the death penalty for LGBT people. But that is exactly what happened. In this report, we review our collection of more than 500 posts to tell the story of one nation’s embrace of hatred toward gay people. This report will be updated continuously as events continue to unfold. Check here for the latest updates.

In 2005, the Southern Poverty Law Center wrote that “[Paul] Cameron’s ‘science’ echoes Nazi Germany.” What the SPLC didn”t know was Cameron doesn’t just “echo” Nazi Germany. He quoted extensively from one of the Final Solution’s architects. This puts his fascination with quarantines, mandatory tattoos, and extermination being a “plausible idea” in a whole new and deeply disturbing light.

From the Inside: Focus on the Family’s “Love Won Out”

On February 10, I attended an all-day “Love Won Out” ex-gay conference in Phoenix, put on by Focus on the Family and Exodus International. In this series of reports, I talk about what I learned there: the people who go to these conferences, the things that they hear, and what this all means for them, their families and for the rest of us.

Using the same research methods employed by most anti-gay political pressure groups, we examine the statistics and the case studies that dispel many of the myths about heterosexuality. Download your copy today!

Anti-gay activists often charge that gay men and women pose a threat to children. In this report, we explore the supposed connection between homosexuality and child sexual abuse, the conclusions reached by the most knowledgeable professionals in the field, and how anti-gay activists continue to ignore their findings. This has tremendous consequences, not just for gay men and women, but more importantly for the safety of all our children.

Anti-gay activists often cite the “Dutch Study” to claim that gay unions last only about 1½ years and that the these men have an average of eight additional partners per year outside of their steady relationship. In this report, we will take you step by step into the study to see whether the claims are true.

Tony Perkins’ Family Research Council submitted an Amicus Brief to the Maryland Court of Appeals as that court prepared to consider the issue of gay marriage. We examine just one small section of that brief to reveal the junk science and fraudulent claims of the Family “Research” Council.

The FBI’s annual Hate Crime Statistics aren’t as complete as they ought to be, and their report for 2004 was no exception. In fact, their most recent report has quite a few glaring holes. Holes big enough for Daniel Fetty to fall through.